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Children at Bergen Meadow Elementary School were challenged on Monday to be first responders in their own lives by performing acts of kindness, caring for one another and reaching out to neighbors.

Principal Peggy Miller — as part of the annual Hero Day ceremony — also explained to students in preschool through second grade about the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, in age-appropriate terms and reminded them of local heroes who keep them safe.

Members of the class of 2021 could have some extra challenges to meet if they want to reach the finish line and graduate from Jeffco Public Schools — namely, the ability to pass a final assessment exam.

At last week’s school board meeting, district staff presented a proposal to revise the district’s graduation goals, most of which are based on Jeffco’s “2020 Vision” plan and 2013 graduation requirements.

A team of students from Columbine and Conifer high schools participated in the 2016 Destination Imagination Global Finals earlier this year after taking top honors at the Colorado state tournament in May.

A little rain last Friday morning didn’t prevent about 60 Parmalee Elementary students from running or walking around a quarter-mile course on the school grounds.

The kids have started running before classes on Wednesdays and Fridays as part of the school’s new 100 Mile Club, in which the students pledge to run, walk or jog 100 miles in a school year. Several parents and teachers joined in the activity on Friday, staying cool in the rain shower.

Ariana Angell, 9, of Evergreen walked among the rows of brightly colored shirts, pants, skirts, dresses and hair accessories. She had two hours and $70 to buy whatever clothes she wanted to wear to school this year.

Her grandmother Kristi held up an outfit and asked Ariana if she liked it.

After months of deliberation, the Jeffco school board on Aug. 2 formally approved resolutions to put a proposed $535 million bond issue and a property-tax increase that would generate $33 million annually on the November ballot.

At last week’s special meeting of the board, members voted unanimously to put both measures on the ballot this fall, saying it’s time for the district to put its financial future into its own hands.

Overall positive feedback from parents and students was offset by employee concerns about workload and pay in a recent survey taken by Jeffco Public Schools.

The district’s Make Your Voice Heard survey, which polled students in second through 12th grades and was completed by about 77 percent of the district’s students, found that most students felt cared about and respected by teachers and school staff; furthermore, about 90 percent of all students said they had friends or people they felt connected to at school.

Officials at Rocky Mountain Academy of Evergreen are waiting for the dust to settle to see how many students return to the charter school after the school board decided unanimously Oct. 26 to fire executive director Roberta Harrell, then voted 4-3 to reinstate six faculty members who were fired the week before.

As the turmoil reached its height last week, an undetermined number of parents pulled their children out of RMAE and moved them to other schools, including Evergreen and Clear Creek middle schools.

Jeffco students are largely outperforming national averages when it comes to reading and math, but semester-to-semester growth is lacking.

According to the school district’s presentation of its year-long Measures of Academic Progress, student scores in math and reading improved over the last year, with about 60 percent of all students in grades three through 10 scoring in the high-average or above-average range for math and reading.